Yoshio Taniguchi

Ken Domon Museum of Photography

photography by Toru Waki (The Shokokusha Publishing Co., Ltd), Satoru Mishima (Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.)

Architecture of ever-changing color This museum was built to house the works of one of Japan's most famous photographers, Ken Domon. The site exists within a park on the banks of the Mogami River just before it pours into the Sea of Japan. The building is composed of two distinct areas: the exhibition space and the Ken Domon Memorial Lounge. The exhibition space is partially buried underground to shut out natural light and thus prevent damage to the photographs. The sun-filled lounge in turn appears to float on a manmade pond, which like a giant mirror reflects the colors of sunlight—ever changing through the day and seasons—onto the building, tingeing it too with ever-changing hues. The artificial pond itself was located to put distance between the architecture and visitor, thereby providing a panoramic view of the shifting colors of the building in its natural setting. The courtyard garden was designed by Isamu Noguchi and contains one of his sculptures; the dry landscape garden is the work of Hiroshi Teshigawara. Together with the manmade pond, these gardens strongly connect the architecture to its surroundings and add even more spectacular views.

Articles from the 2005 WINTER issue:

• Sake: Sake Today - Sake Primer
• Behind New York's MoMA: Yoshio Taniguchi: Ken Domon Museum of Photography
• Discover Japan's Great Kilns: Visiting Japanese Kilns - Bizen - Tokoname - Seto & Tajimi
• Visionary Director Amon Miyamoto
• J Horror Looms over Hollywood: Hideo Nakata - Roy Lee - Koji Suzuki - Horror on the Horizon
• Shogo Tomiyama: producer of Godzilla Final Wars
• Pop Music: Steve McClure's picks for the best Japanese popular music in 2004

Kateigaho International Edition Issues:

2005 SUMMER - 2005 SPRING - 2005 WINTER

2004 AUTUMN - 2004 SUMMER - 2004 SPRING - 2004 WINTER

2003 AUTUMN - INAUGURAL ISSUE